


Family and Trust

by JustSaiyan123



Series: Cell Becomes A Good Guy (not really) [2]
Category: Dragon Ball, Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Cannot trust Goku and the others anymore so she takes matters into her own hands, Character Death, Crossover, F/M, Family, Gen, Heartbreak, I'll let you guess what happens from that last tag.., Junior wears clothes now, Kim has trust issues, Minor Character Death, Most of the characters listed above are minor characters! sorry, Oblivious Son Goku (Dragon Ball), Obsession, Paranoia, Psychological Trauma, Short Story, Trauma, Trust Issues, cell is still a murderous bastard, especially monkey first he doesn't even have a line ksajf, kim doesn't like that, ron has powers, the guy just wants to be fair!, tim and jim are uncles and they are proud
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:56:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29815656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustSaiyan123/pseuds/JustSaiyan123
Summary: Following the events of Yamanouchi, Kim tries to adjust back to her normal life but struggles with paranoia and trust. Unable to accept the monster Cell is gone, she takes matters into her own hands. Meanwhile, Betty Director has her own troubles with GJ's new guest.NOTE: This probably won't make sense unless you've read 'Kidnapped' but feel free to read regardless!
Series: Cell Becomes A Good Guy (not really) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552447
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Full story completed on FanFiction.net.  
> Will update daily.

Junior waited at one of the higher railings, waiting for the villain to appear. Kim told him to wait here and join in the fight when things got tough, but she highly emphasized that she "got this" and expected little to no aid. He understood, but he still wanted to help in his own way, even if it were a little bit! According to her, the villain this time appeared to be a green man who called himself "Professor Dementor".

She told him he would be drilling in from a big drill, according to a checklist she had recovered from when he stole said drill. And so, he waited and waited, and low and behold, the rumbling began. A drill from above destroyed the ceiling of the secret underground facility and out leaped a shortish green man who yelled out in a thick German accent, "HA! No top secret underground science facility can hide from Professor Dementor!"

He could see the redhead appear from the smoke caused by the drill and announcing, "And no smug villain can hide from-"

Professor Dementor's eyes widened, a shocked look spreading rapidly across his face. "Kim Possible?!"

"And boyfriend!" Ron announced proudly.

The shocked look on Professor Dementor's face faded in an instant. "Ah, I seriously doubt that."

"No, dude, it's true, really."

The villain thought for a moment. "Sorry, just can't believe it."

Then the crime fighters engaged what seemed like back and forth banter with the enemy. Something about the list Kim mentioned to him earlier, and how calling someone's mother was part of it? He didn't seem to figure out that part, he wasn't familiar with familial relations humans had. Junior only knew Kim's familial relations, and a bit of Ron's but that was all. The mini chimera was in deep thought for a moment on family until he heard Professor Dementor shouting one last thing.

"...Or, we could add one more item to my list: _eliminate Kim Possible!_ "

Junior could see him aiming the laser drill at Kim and Ron and virtually jumped into action, but he stopped short and saw a blue bubble form around the duo. The attack from the laser drill was countered immediately thanks to Kim's battle suit. He wasn't familiar with it, but he did see her wear it on the day he was revived with the dragon balls.

Kim leaped high onto the platform Professor Dementor was on and prepared to attack until the man spouted something about her battle suit. Junior only let out a bored exhale and sat back down on the platform he was on, gripping the railings a bit too tightly and causing them to bend. He hadn't a clue on what to do at the moment, he was just really, really bored. Stopping that blue guy and the green woman he was familiar with last week seemed fun at least, but it didn't seem like he had something to do here.

The heroine was then met with a group of men targeting her, but she handled them all easily. Ron, however, only took notice of the laser drill by his companion Rufus and broke into a run.

Now this was more like it! The blue bio-android shot out from his spot and grabbed the freckled teen by the back of his shirt and materialized back to where he originally was. He cast his pink orbs below and noticed the laser drill was still shooting lasers like crazy.

"Thanks, little dude," Ron said, in between breaths. He seemed out of breath from all the running he had done.

The power he had acquired from the events of Yamanouchi disappeared altogether, or rarely appeared now. It was like Ron said, it comes and goes. Not that it mattered, it only meant Junior had things to do now! Even if it meant saving the blonde from imminent danger. He leaped off the platform and flew into the laser drill, destroying it from the inside and causing it to explode from within.

Professor Dementor gazed in horror. "No! How is this possible?! What other weapon have you acquired?!"

"Not a weapon, just a great kid," Kim noted proudly, watching as Junior flew out of the drill and right beside her with a grin. "And speaking of—hey buddy, next time, try to tone it down a notch with the destruction, okay? It might be dangerous, but it's still stolen technology." As she spoke, the destruction of the laser drill continued to sound as background noise.

Junior only sent her a sheepish grin and a shrug in reply.

"No matter, we will settle this next time!" Professor Dementor shouted, as he placed himself in an escape capsule and pressed a button, engines already beginning to fire. "And next time this suit of power will be your undoing!"

The mini chimera shot up to the sky simultaneously as the escape capsule had, grabbed it by it's curved top and slammed it back down to the ground, causing the engines to fail instantaneously.

Kim sauntered over to the villain sitting fearfully in his seat with a shocked expression. The glass around the capsule shattered as she approached with a smirk and her arms crossed over her chest.

"So you were saying?"

* * *

"Another day marked," Ron said glumly, aloud to himself, catching his girlfriend's attention.

"Huh? For what?"

He let out a groan and slumped in his seat, grabbing the drink he had ordered earlier and taking a lazy sip. "Since my powers went away."

After Professor Dementor was apprehended, Wade got them a ride back home, and of course they had the best seats. They were currently flying first class back to Middleton. Junior had the window seat, peeking out at the clouds above and cities below while Kim sat in the middle, and Ron at the other end. Junior could fly them all back home, but it was too far and the heroine really didn't feel like getting a bad hair day again. Besides, he seemed to be enjoying the new surroundings.

Kim gazed sympathetically at her boyfriend, but felt something weird from within. It wasn't weird, per say, but odd for the moment. Usually when one of the most important people in your life were feeling down, you'd feel similarly. Instead, she felt almost.. kind of relieved—almost _satisfied_ even. She couldn't help but feel disgusted with herself, these feelings hadn't gone away ever since the first day of senior year. If anything, they festered.

"Ron, it's like you said, it comes and goes, remember?"

"Yeah, I know, but I really thought they'd stay this time," he replied. "I don't wanna keep being the bumbling sidekick. I don't mean to bring up things you don't wanna hear, but I gotta be strong for when something like _him_ pops up again, you know? So I can protect you."

The redhead held his hand and squeezed it. "Hey, who said it had to be your responsibility? Trunks and the others can handle things like that, it's, like, what they do. We just have to stick to what we do best."

"Fighting crime?" he asked, looking up.

"Fighting crime," she assured. "Let's not worry about that right now, it's so not our ish." With that, she took back her hand, but was slightly surprised to see it was grabbed suddenly.

"KP, you saved the world last week, not them, you know that, right?" Ron asked, his hand tightening around hers. "They were all like Ce—uh, like _super_ superheroes. They fly, shoot blasts, and can probably crush mountains yet it was _you_ who saved _them_. Don't forget that. I know I won't."

Kim only looked at him skeptically. "It was a one-time thing and I took a risk I didn't expect to come out alive from. There's no way we'll get dragged into something like that again. As far as I know, I'm Kim Possible, just your ordinary girl who stops bad guys—you-you know, like Drakken and Professor Dementor just earlier. Not.." She balled up a hand into a fist, trying not to lose composure. "Not Goku, the guy who literally lost his life saving the world from being destroyed by an overpowered monster like _Cell_."

Junior turned back suddenly when he heard his father's name and started listening in on the conversation.

Ron nearly choked on his drink. "Wait, he's dead?!" he exclaimed incredulously, Rufus in his pocket choking on some food he was chewing when he heard his owner. "Cell already killed him?!"

The heroine looked at him with a puzzled look before doing a double take on what she said. "Oh, no, no, no! It was just something I heard awhile back. I'm guessing they used the dragon balls to revive him, I mean when he basically saved the world seven years ago—I think." She looked back in her memories to see if she got the story right. She heard it from the fiend himself, but she didn't want to admit that.

Ron only scowled when the bio-android came to mind, slumping back in his seat and crossing his arms. "Yeah, pretty sure we'll see his ugly mug _never._ He probably got his butt whooped by those guys. It was like, five against one!"

"Right," Kim just said, nodding in agreement, albeit skeptically. It might be paranoia, but something inside told her the chimera wasn't done with them yet. He could still be out there—the only assurance she could get now is from the people who were capable enough to beat him.

"Peanuts," Junior announced, planting a bag of airline food in Kim's lap and snapping her out of her intrusive thoughts.

"Oh, thanks Junior," she said, accepting the bag, mostly it was more for distracting her from her head. Nowadays she thought too much about the chimera or things of his nature.

"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is," Ron started once more, causing Kim to look back at him. "Their 'ish' _can_ become _our_ 'ish', get it?"

"I got it," Kim replied, elbowing him slightly. "Just promise me you won't strain yourself trying to get back those powers."

The freckled teen huffed. "Yeah, alright. I can't guarantee anything, but I _promise_ you this." He leaned close to her with a determined look. "I won't let that jerk lay another finger on you—and that goes for Eric too! Might wanna start packing mouthwash to-go, Kim, he'll probably want to lay another one on you," he warned, a jealous expression flashing briefly.

"Ew gross, not like I'll give him another chance," she responded with a shiver, before noticing the other thing he said. It was almost like he also thought of the off-chance Cell survived. Looked like it wasn't just her mind this fiend invaded.

"Peanuts!" the mini chimera almost shouted with a firm look in place, planting another bag on her lap in a more aggressive manner.

Kim was yet again snapped out of her thoughts by Junior's action. She picked up the bag and sent him a curious look. "What's the deal with you and airline food?"

He looked down, almost in a pensive manner. The redhead continued to look at him, now with concern mixed in. Ron seemed to notice and gazed as well to see if the mini bio-android had something more to say.

"You were.. thinking of.. him again," he said hesitantly.

Kim and Ron just continued to stare, eyes widened just a bit. One-worded replies and short phrases were all they got from him, but now it seemed like he was capable of full-on sentences.

"Him?" Kim asked, leaning forward.

"You mean your dad," Ron said, almost stating it rather than asking.

Junior nodded. "My dad."

The heroine contemplated for a moment and shook her head, moving back abruptly. "No, he's not your dad."

Her boyfriend cast his eyes towards her in a confused manner. "Uh, I don't know, KP, he looks exactly like him and from what you told me, he _came_ from him-"

"So not what I mean!" she interjected, sending Ron a brief look before returning to Junior. "You might look like him, you might be a product of him, but he is _not_ your dad."

The mini chimera gazed at her with a confused expression, not knowing where she was going with this. Ron was nearly as puzzled as the child and waited to hear more.

Kim, reading the room, decided to expand upon her words. "A dad—a _father_ doesn't do what he did. He might've created you, but he was nothing a father should be. A father is supposed to love and protect their child, and he willingly let you die just to get back at me. In his eyes, you weren't a son, you were just.." She clenched her fists, feeling livid at the absolute monstrosity of this fiend. "you were some kind of minion—someone who would do whatever he said no matter what, even if it meant putting you in harm's way. No father would do that to their child."

"Yeah, she's got a point kiddo," Ron said, his attention nearly drifting away as he noticed his drink being refilled. "Some people just weren't meant to be dads, Cell especially. Just like how some people just weren't meant to be moms, you could definitely put L in that category." After that, he took a sip of his drink.

"Moms?"

The redhead looked at him curiously. "Uh yeah, like dad but female. A mom takes care of you, loves and protects you just like a dad. Basically, everything Cell isn't, and not just because he isn't female since I'm still not too sure what he is."

After taking in the definition he was given, Junior looked up to Kim with a newfound look. "Are you my mom?"

Ron spat out his drink and began to choke. He pounded at his chest and struggled to breathe while Rufus tried to help him.

Kim's eyes widened as the question echoed loudly in her head. "What—no, no, no, I think you're confused, I'm not your mom."

"Takes care of you," he iterated, pointing at her.

The heroine scratched her head, averted her eyes and laughed awkwardly. "Well, yeah I mean, I do that, but I'm still-"

"Loves and protects you just like a dad."

"Okay, sure but-"

"Everything Cell isn't."

That settled it. Kim let out a long, deflating sigh. "Yes, technically by my definition, I _could_ be," she responded. "But I'm not. Just think of me as your permanent babysitter until you get old enough to support yourself without me."

"So like a mom," Ron said in a strained voice, recovering from his coughing fit, before making a realization. "Oh cool, does that make me his new dad?"

"Not helping," Kim noted, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.

"Come on, KP. I think he could use some parents, I mean look at him!"

The heroine reluctantly turned to see an expectant expression on the mini chimera's alabaster face.

"What better than us to be the mom and dad he needs, who by the way, is ten times better than his old one—top shelf!"

"Hate to break it to you, but I'm not changing my mind," she said firmly, closing her eyes for a second and opening them to see an all too familiar expression on Ron's face.

"No, not that, anything but that!" she pleaded, immediately looking away. It was, of course, the infamous puppy dog pout. Avoiding it was her only way to get her way. She turned to face Junior and noticed he imitated Ron out of curiosity and she gave in.

"Fine!" she exclaimed. "Just don't go too crazy with it, we're only helping him feel better, alright?"

"Done and done!" Ron responded, before turning to Junior. "Hear that buddy? You can now refer to the Ron-ster as your new old man!"

While Ron and Junior were celebrating, Kim slumped in her seat. She heard the pilot on the intercom announce they were landing, but the only thing she focused on were her loud thoughts. It wasn't that she minded being his parent, it was the implication she had any sort of relationship with Cell that irked her. If anything, made her feel sick to the stomach. She tried to push the thought away but it only got bigger.

* * *

She couldn't feel anything.

Everything felt completely numb.

To lose the ability of movement was nothing short of torture; an unwarranted punishment. She could hardly see a way out of this situation given her circumstances. Global Justice had expanded since she left and the area looked unfamiliar to her, if anything, new. Still, it was better than being locked in her old dorm like before when she was teen.

The first thing she noticed was the size; it was enormous, the ceiling reached so high she almost couldn't see it, and the walls were so far apart it could cover multiple football fields. She couldn't see a reason why this area would be built, then again, her old man did a lot of things she couldn't find reason in.

"Are you awake?"

A gentle, calming voice suddenly hit her ears, which would've made her jump if she hadn't been incapacitated by the containment device. She looked above and her eyes met with the color brown.

"I'm guessing you are by that glare of yours," Betty noted, taking out a folding chair, setting it out in front of her and taking a seat.

Had she the right to glare the only person who treated her with kindness? She didn't like to think about questions like that, her mind instinctively blocked them from her head the second they made existence. Besides, she hadn't noticed she was even glaring in the first place.

It was silent after Dr. Director spoke, it was always like that since L's place of residence switched back to Global Justice. Still, it was better than her out there assassinating people for their life energy. That's what Betty thought at least.

"I've... I've brought you something to eat!" the brunette spoke up, bringing out an apple. "Remember? You liked fruits, these were your favorites."

L brought her cat-like eyes to the red fruit below, a disgusted expression flashing across her face as she looked away.

"...Or not!" Betty continued suddenly, hiding the apple behind her, clenching her fist around the fruit and closing her eye tightly for a moment. "Uh... let's see, maybe there's something else you'd like. I'm open to suggestions!"

The assassin kept averting her eyes, her head facing her left, ignoring Betty completely. The brunette felt her chest tighten momentarily, a sinking feeling in her gut when met with the response, or lack thereof. She hadn't been eating as of late, ever since she'd been contained. The containment device hadn't been removed, no attempt was _made_ to remove it and return it to the government. She was afraid the blonde would make her escape and leave, and something told her she might not find her next time, or in a worse case, she would find her trying to kill again. She already had a clue as to who her next target was.

Dr. Director could only tighten her grip on the apple out of frustration. This situation wasn't fair to her, she felt she had done everything right in her life and couldn't fathom why she was being met with such hatred and fury. She could easily say their bond was closer than that of her own twin brother.

"I'm.. I'm trying my best, Lu-" she stopped herself short, before correcting herself. "L... pardon, L. I'm only trying to fix what happened, can you at least work with me? Please? I-I know what happened has brought you so much pain and sadness but I need you to open up to me so I can help!"

Nothing. No reaction, no movement, she was like a statue. She really appeared as such. In their younger years she envied her sister's beauty, to the point it was more alien than human, but she never allowed the sentiment to blossom or to harm their relationship. They were related, barely, but she was raised with the knowledge that she was as much a sibling as Sheldon was. She could handle losing her brother, but she couldn't handle losing her sister.

Betty let out a frustrated, sharp exhale. "Isn't there anything I can do to make you talk? Please, just say something to me— _anything!_ "

After awhile, the blonde finally returned her eyes to her former sister. "Let me go."

The woman in the chair hesitantly opened her eye, unable to return it to the contained assassin in front of her. "You know I can't do that."

"Why?" L nearly yelled, her face grimacing immediately. The sudden change in her behavior caused the brunette to jump, as well as how intense her voice had become. "Because you're afraid of what I can do? Newsflash, I can't do anything anymore, I'm powerless! You were there when that old bastard took it from me!"

"You can still hurt people," Dr. Director answered in a low voice. "That sight years ago, I can't get it out of my head.. no matter how hard I try, it's always _there._ "

"Right, like Sheldon hasn't done the same either," she spat back. "WEE? Is it? He's running an evil organization by the name of World Evil Empire and yet I'm the one who gets the short end of the stick!"

"It's nothing of the sort! We've just been unable to apprehend him! Situations happen and it's mostly luck that I've got you back."

The excuse only made L angrier, to the point where tears nearly formed. "You can save your excuses, I know what this is about. You can try to hide it all you want, but we both know who you've become—who _both_ of you have turned into. You're just like him, in every aspect possible. I can't distinguish you two as any different from that monster!"

After hearing the accusation, Betty cast her eyes above quickly, as well as her head. "Who are you talking about? Are you-are you comparing me to Gemini _?_ To _Dad?_ "

"There's nothing to compare, you're the same person in my eyes," the blonde hissed.

The director abruptly stood up from her chair, sending it backwards and making a loud, unpleasant sound—she winced slightly. An expression of anger splashing across her face. "I am _nothing_ like him! You, out of _all_ people, should know that! I gladly took leadership so I could undo the damage he's dealt to this organization!"

L formed a wry smile at her response, a small laugh leaving her mouth, gradually getting louder and raucous. "So how does it feel, Ms. Director? It feels good, doesn't it?" the assassin quizzed mockingly. "To be at the top, like he always wanted. Daddy's little girl making daddy proud as usual, fulfilling his last wish even after death."

Betty couldn't form a response at that point, the woman in front of her had switched emotions in seconds. She was furious in one second and disdain in the next. She hadn't been able to perform a psychological evaluation on her yet so with what she was given, she figured she was nearing insanity. The brunette was so focused on what was happening she didn't hear the doors she came from opening, as well as the initial steps taken by a newcomer.

"Betty! Are you done with this interrogation of yours?" a female voice inquired in a chirp-like manner.

Dr. Director made a sharp turn backwards, facing Sorgel in front of her. "What are you doing here? _How_ did you get in here? This area is strictly off-limits, I don't even allow most of my own agents in here!"

"As usual, you people at GJ think you have all sorts of jurisdiction," the young scientist noted with an annoyed look. "Just because you're a 'secret organization' doesn't mean you can hide everything from us. I don't need any justification to be here, now, do I?"

Betty nearly scowled, but crossed her arms and stood in a way that made L barely visible to the newcomer. "What do you want?"

" _Need,_ " the bespectacled woman corrected, a hand on her hip. "My containment device, remember? Cell is still out and about, thanks to you and your agents' neglect. It'll take me years to make another, that one was already in the process of being made even right after he was contained seven years ago."

"Take some of my people to help, or better yet, I'll get one of the best to help you," the brunette replied, brisk. "He personally aids Kim Possible as part of her team, so you should receive the best results."

Sorgel frowned, unsatisfied. "No thanks, this is my project, and Cell is my specimen. I won't allow outsiders to have information on him and the device. Just hand it over, it's government property, not property of Global Justice."

"...I can't do that right now," Dr. Director replied, almost reluctant.

"What do you mean? Don't tell me you _lost_ it?!" she questioned angrily, taking a few steps forward. "Cell being captured the first time wasn't an accident, you know! If anything, it was purely based on luck! Many men were killed that day trying to get the first device on him! This current device is our only option! Not only do _I_ need it back, but Sims ordered for its return!"

Betty moved back, trying to obstruct Sorgel's view of the assassin, although late when the scientist saw her very own creation. Her eyes had widened momentarily and her jaw dropped. She took an abrupt step back, her mouth closing slightly but her eyes still just as wide.

L and Sorgel made eye contact, although very briefly, it still occurred. She knew that look she was given, if anything, she was incredibly familiar with it despite only having known it once before many years ago.

"You need to leave," Betty interrupted, a glowering expression on her face. " _Now._ "

The young scientist sent the brunette an unfazed look, virtually appearing bored. Later, she smiled slightly, joining her hands together for whatever reason. She stared at Betty with a knowing look. Betty only stared back with her glower remaining on her face, though with a bit of confusion thrown in.

"Actually, you can just hand _her_ over," she suddenly said, pointing at L. "With the containment device, no need to take it off."

Dr. Director shot the woman daggers, seemingly more irate than before. " _Human experimentation?_ Are you kidding me, Sorgel?"

"Honestly Betty, it's a fair trade. I was here for Cell and the little one and was given nothing. Nothing! Can you believe it? I'll admit, I did manage to come to an understanding of how you've given Possible ownership of him but I'm still owed one nonhuman, organic being. This will suffice."

"You think you can just change what it means to be human?" Betty rebutted with a scoff. "Of course you're a scientist."

"Well, obviously not!" Sorgel responded with a laugh. "But as far as I know, the containment device works solely on non-human, organic beings, partial or not."

The brunette suddenly went up to the scientist's face, pushing the woman backwards a few steps before lividly telling her, " _Get the hell out_."

Sorgel looked at her and saw a look that could kill. She wasn't experienced in fighting, so she wouldn't risk angering the director any further. She backed off, turning halfway to leave. "I expect the very best, Betty. That containment device is no joke, it needs to be perfect. Absolutely flawless. Anything below that is only begging to be killed by Cell. I'm sure you must be familiar by now."

Dr. Director watched as the scientist sent her one last smile before leaving her and L in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

The crime fighters arrived in their neighborhood, Ron and Junior all giddy while Kim was stuck in her thoughts as they headed towards her house. Ron hung out there a lot anyway, it was like a second house to him. By the time they got to the door, it was swung open by one of her younger brothers.

"Cool, it worked!" Jim shouted to his twin.

"Now we can tell wherever he's gonna be!"

Kim frowned and crossed her arms, a brow raised as she looked down at her brothers. "What are you two going on about?"

"A little something we worked on," Tim replied with a grin, holding a small, circular device with two buttons on the sides, and a big one on the top, there was a grid-like pattern on its screen. "It can track Junior by energy sensing! We figured somebody might wanna kidnap him since he's not human."

The redhead's face softened slightly, uncrossing her arms at the same time. "Wow, that's actually.. kind of sensible. Considering what happened during summer vacation, I know someone who'd wanna snatch him up."

"And speaking of.." Ron whispered at her ear, gesturing to the kitchen and hearing a familiar chirp-like voice inside laughing along with her parents.

The heroine's face fell immediately, as well as her heart when it hit the pit of her stomach. "No. Way." She bolted inside and into the kitchen and found a familiar scientist engaged in a conversation with her parents at the kitchen table, who were also scientists.

Anne Possible cast her eyes behind her and saw her daughter at the entrance of the kitchen. "Oh honey, you're home! Look who came to visit, she works with the General of Area 51, I think you know her, her name is-"

"Sorgel," Kim finished with a glare, her eyes sending daggers toward the scientist.

"Yoo-hoo," Sorgel said with a small wave. "I've just been telling your wonderful parents about my project, since you'll want to be involved, I'm sure."

"Project?" the redhead asked, trying to make sense of this sudden, uninvited visit from the bespectacled scientist. Soon, it began to clear and she could figure out what she was really after. "Is that what you want to call it? Why don't you tell my parents why you're really here?" She crossed her arms over her chest and waited.

Anne and James had a puzzled look when they heard their daughter. They turned to Sorgel for answers, which she seemed to purposely leave out.

"Is there something you're leaving out?" James asked warily.

The young brunette nodded with a somewhat forlorn expression in place. "Yes, I'm afraid. Only a selected few know the details and your daughter is one of them. It's important to limit those who are already involved to secure the safety of those and everyone we care about. I'm sure you understand."

Kim's parents seemed to understand but Kim wasn't buying it. She was about to protest when Sorgel shot her a look. The redhead clamped her mouth shut and seemingly figured out what was going on. She contemplated for a moment and let out a sigh. She didn't like what she was about to do, if anything she hated herself for having to do it.

"Mom, Dad, I think me and her need to talk for a bit, alone," Kim offered to her parents. "It's pretty important mission stuff."

"No problem, Kimmy," Anne said, standing up from her chair at the table and motioning for James to follow. "I've got a neuroscience convention to go to in the morning anyway, I'll finish packing. James, you don't mind helping me, do you?"

Her husband understood and nodded quickly. "Right! Let me help you with that, sweetheart. Good luck, Kimmy-cub!"

The heroine forced a smile and waved as they left. "Yeah, thanks guys!" When they left the room through the other exit, Ron, her brothers, and Junior came in the kitchen. Although secreted slightly by Ron placing him behind his legs.

Sorgel's cheery disposition vanished and an almost bored look replaced it. "Alright, now let's cut to the chase. I need your help," she said.

"Help?" Kim asked with a snort. "Why would I help you? You tried to take Junior as your own little science experiment!"

Sorgel cast her eyes to her side and noticed the little one hiding behind Ron's legs. She almost smirked, but managed to suppress it and move on. "This benefits both sides, Kim. You honestly can't think I'm dumb enough to come here and beg for him, considering how compassionate you are for beings you don't understand."

"I may not understand what he is, but I know enough to say he's my family now, and I don't appreciate people threatening to take them or experiment on them," she responded lividly.

"Yeah, he's our family!" Jim shouted.

"And we're his too, we're his uncles!" Tim finished.

Kim whipped her head around and sent Ron an accusing look.

Ron shrugged with a sheepish look in place. "I thought they'd might wanna know, you know?"

The scientist rolled her eyes. "I'm not here to take him, if that's what you're thinking. There's something in Global Justice I need returned to me."

The redhead turned back to face her and a remembrance came to her. "The containment device."

"Bingo," Sorgel said with a wink. "And while you're at it, don't take it off whatever its bound to, you can take that too."

Kim already knew who it was. It was L, but she didn't know why the brunette referred to the assassin as a thing rather than a person. There was something she was intentionally leaving out, or planning not to tell. Why did she want L?

"Let me guess, you've seen her," Kim said, staring down at the scientist.

Sorgel sighed and nodded. Looks like the heroine was more observant than she anticipated. "Yeah, I've seen that. I won't refer to future, potential test subjects with proper pronouns, otherwise I won't get the funding I need to do what you kids say, my thing. People are sticklers when it comes to morality and humanity and whatnot, that's why they didn't hesitate to give me what I needed to experiment on our good old friend Cell. Since he, you know, committed mass murder. Anger is a beautiful tool, you know, I'm sure this thing has done some pretty vile things for you to be familiar with what I'm talking about."

She scowled at the bespectacled woman. Even more so when she mentioned the bio-android. She just stopped thinking about that monster and here he was again, being shoved into every conversation she had with everyone.

"She's done some pretty bad things, but she's human. Cell isn't-"

"Junior isn't," Sorgel added with a grin. "Logical fallacy, better watch out for those, Ms. Possible. Otherwise you'll never get your points through."

"Junior never killed a great number of people like they did," Kim retorted, then she rose a brow. "Better?"

"I guess, so are you going to help me or not?"

"I still haven't heard a good reason to," Kim replied.

"You mean, your tech genius hasn't bothered to tell you he's on this project with me?" Sorgel asked with a pretense of worry. "Then again, he probably doesn't know a lot about what happened, right? It's not like you bothered to spill anything either."

"Wade's working with Sorgel?" the redhead asked herself incredulously. That couldn't be it, he'd at least mention he could be busy with a project, but with something as big as this?

"Project? What project?" the twins asked in unison.

"Tweebs! You've heard enough, you need to quit buggin' and leave," Kim ordered, extending an arm and pointing in the direction of their rooms.

"Oh, I don't mind explaining it to them," Sorgel noted with a smile. "You see, boys, there's a big, bad monster on the loose and we need all the help we can get to recreate my containment device, and your sister's young tech friend is helping me, but we can speed up that process if my original containment device is returned to me." After saying that last part, she looked to Kim with an evil look.

Kim only stared back in reply. If there was one thing she dreaded to think about, it was the possibility of Cell's survival. It was impossible, it had to be. Sorgel had to be lying in order to scare her into doing what she wanted. It was like Ron said before, it was five against one! If he truly survived, it meant Goku and the others were—they were gone. They could be next and he would strike without them knowing.

Ron let out of a scoff and crossed his arms. "Hate to break to you, Sorgel, but that jerk is long gone! You're too late."

The scientist turned to him, unfazed and smirking. "And you truly believe that? Can you put your entire faith on this 'fact'?"

The freckled teen scowled. "We haven't seen that ugly face of his since the last time we saw him, so yeah, I can! So, there!" Rufus climbed onto his shoulder and blew a raspberry at her.

Sorgel nearly smirked, but again, tried to suppress her excitement. Although it was hidden, Kim could see the look on her face. There was no way. There had to be no way, because that meant the Earth truly was in danger. Without the containment device, they were doomed! Forget L, he could actually do some real damage to the planet and its inhabitants.

The bespectacled brunette bent down from her chair, leaning forward to reach into her bag. She dug through it for a moment until she found a certain device that appeared remarkably similar to the twins' device for Junior. She took it out and showed it off to the people in the room.

"Hey, that looks like ours!" Jim exclaimed, his brother taking a gander at the other device with widened eyes.

"Then you should know what it does, and who its intended for," Sorgel told him in a chirp-like manner, then she turned to Kim. "You know too, right? So watch and see as the truth is revealed."

Sorgel turned on the device by pressing the button on top, causing the screen to flash and turn on. It revealed a similar grid-like pattern to that of the twins' device. She pressed one of the buttons on the side to zoom out until she found what she was looking for. Then she turned the device around to show the others.

"Do you see that?" she asked softly, almost breathing with her mouth as she pointed at the blinking dot on her screen, a glowing dot that appeared far bigger than the one on the twins' locator device.

"No," Kim breathed, backing away until she hit the wall and denying what she was looking at—denying what she was even suspecting. Rejecting the idea of his existence, or that it even continued to live on.

Junior left from behind Ron's legs and rushed to Kim, running into her own legs and hugging them tightly. She could feel the embrace but unfortunately it did little to comfort her from the fact this was actually happening.

"Oh, yes!" the young scientist said aloud, her eyes beaming. "That's Cell. Oh, my wonderful specimen, you've frightened me the other day, his light was fading so quickly which meant he was dying but it's back and better than before! Oh and look!" She repeatedly and rapidly prodded at the screen, her excitement getting the better of her. "The coordinates! They're the same as the ones you gave me before when we went to find him!"

The redhead couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was utterly incredulous as she tried to find sense of this madness. He was alive, but he returned to the clearing from before? Why? He wasn't one to hold sentimental value of things or places, he made that clear when he allowed his own son to die. Did he kill Goku and the others then? Does that mean they failed?

"Th-that thing's broken!" Ron shouted with a stammer, bursting forward and snatching it out of her hands. "Or it's fake! Why didn't you have this when we went to look for Cell? Explain that!"

Sorgel snatched it back, saying, "Because I just recently finished creating it. When it comes to someone like him, it's extremely difficult to find his location, let alone create something to pinpoint it. He can suppress his energy all he wants but I know him, I studied him for seven long years—just enough to make this device to find his location even when he's taking all precautions. As for the fake part, I already tested it out, needless to say, he's very displeased."

Kim was snapped from her stunned state when she heard what the scientist said. The brunette was quick with addressing what she said before anyone, especially the redhead, spoke.

"I won't elaborate any further than that," Sorgel suddenly interrupted. "But now that I've got your attention, Kim, will you help me?"

It went silent—everyone's eyes were on Kim now, it was as if she had the final say. She was staring at Sorgel with quite the intense look too. The contemplation took awhile although the answer was already obvious. If what the woman was saying is true, then she had to go through with this. She hadn't an option at this point, if the Z warriors weren't capable anymore, she would have to take their place. She was a hero after all, she had to.

"Fine, I'll do it, but Dr. Director isn't going to like this," Kim warned her.

Ron shook his head, approaching his girlfriend with doubts. "KP, you can't be serious! She won't let you get away with it, she literally faced Cell to protect L, even though she killed a whole bunch of people!"

"She'll understand when I tell her what's going on," the redhead replied, before thinking for a moment and adding something else. "If it ever comes to that—which it won't. L's a bad guy, Dr. Director will have to understand it's for the greater good, I mean, she has to. Do I wanna deal with L or Cell? No. But this way we can keep them from doing anymore harm."

Ron still looked at her skeptically. "I mean, are you sure?"

"Yeah, way sure, I just want to get all of this out of the way so I can finally have a normal life," she responded sternly. "Well, at least what's considered normal."

"Splendid!" Sorgel suddenly spoke, clapping her hands together. She stood up from her chair and put her locator device back in her bag and picked it up. "Then it's a deal. You fetch me my containment device and my new specimen, I finish making another quickly, and Cell will be contained once more. Although that last part's optional, I can go by myself to get him."

While she started to leave, Kim stepped in the way. "How exactly did you get here? I didn't see any government vehicles around when I got home."

Sorgel stared at her for a second. "I have my ways. If I want something, I'll get it one way or another." She cast her hazel orbs below and send Junior a warm smile, although he only found it perturbing and hid himself further behind his adoptive mother.

The scientist eventually left and all was left were the twins, Ron, Kim and Junior.

"KP..."

"What?" Kim asked defensively. "I don't want to know what would happen if I said no, you saw the way she looked at him. She still wants to go all sciency on him despite what she told us."

"I know, I don't want him to get hurt too, but Dr. Director really cares about L, like really, really," he said, which caused the redhead to frown. "Look—I'm not defending her, but she's still got a place in her heart, know what I mean?"

"Well newsflash, Ron! She's a killer," Kim stated quite angrily. "She tried to kill me and you, and she actually did kill Junior, so I'd rather she'd be at Sorgel's hands than him. I don't care what kind of relationship she had with Dr. Director, but she's not that person anymore, and I'm pretty sure you don't try to kill people you care about. So think of it as me doing her a favor."

The freckled teen understood from her point of view, but he wanted her to see from his own. He had been with Betty with she spoke of L, it was like she lost a part of her soul. An inseparable duo who were partner-in-crime? Who else did that remind him of other than him and his girlfriend? If he had lost Kim like that, he would never give up on her, so he felt he could relate with Dr. Director. For now, he'd just agree with her, he had a little something else planned in mind.

"..Okay, you have a point, so just do your thing, and I'll be the helpful sidekick," he said.

Kim smiled. "Partner," she corrected, yanking him forward with her arm and bringing him close. "I think it's about time we officially drop the hero and her sidekick act." Then she gave him a small peck on the cheek.

"Boo-yah," he whispered, touching the place she kissed, but felt a twinge of guilt over the lie he told her. Which meant he had to do things quick, just so this whole thing gets solved before the situation takes a sudden turn for the worse.

Kim was in the other room speaking to Wade about the mission to sneak in Global Justice, which gave Ron just enough time to speak to Junior about what he had in mind.

Junior was just about to follow Kim when the freckled teen tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey little dude, I need you to do me a quick favor, can you do that?"

The mini chimera looked up with a grin and nodded. Kim really trusted Ron, so he held the same trust as well. If he needed help, he'd be happy to aid him however he could.

"Can you keep a secret?" he asked hopefully.

The child cocked his head to the side slightly. "Secret? What is.. secret?"

"Oh, well something you don't tell anyone, and I really mean anyone," Ron answered firmly, then he formed a slight pained expression. "Especially Kim."

Junior sent him a skeptical look when he heard that last part. The blonde already predicted this happening. If there was anyone he would blindly follow and trust whatever they would say other than Cell, it'd be Kim. Of course he believed he trusted him too, he just trusted Kim far more.

"Look, it's just a quick trip, Kim doesn't need to know," he said quickly. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her, and it-it's just a quick visit to Sensei, you remember him, don't you?"

The mini bio-android nodded again. The old man from before, at the secret ninja school who helped them with their situation. The very same who helped Ron achieve his true Mystical Monkey powers, although only briefly.

"Okay, goody, because it's happening now, and I'll need your help getting there," he added. "So while Kim's busy, I need you to take me to Yamanouchi. It'll be quick, we'll be there in and out, just like that! So what do you say, kiddo?"

The mini bio-android didn't know how to answer. He didn't want to keep secrets from Kim, but this trip seemed important to Ron. Although scarcely, he could see the desperate look on his face—in his eyes. This trip seemed more important than he was letting on. Without wasting time, he finally nodded, although regretfully. It seemed like keeping his first secret was going to be harder than he thought.

"Alright! Now give me just a sec—" Ron immediately went into the same room Kim was in.

"Are you sure about this, Kim?" Wade asked cautiously. "I've actually looked into it earlier and Dr. Director's got her on high security. No one goes in and comes out without her accompanying them. The only instance this hasn't happened is when.." He leaned into his computer and his eyes widened somewhat.

"Let me guess," Kim started with a sigh. "Sorgel."

"Yeah, she managed to get in, but that only increased the security into what it is now," he said finally. "Without Dr. Director, you aren't getting in there."

"Well, good thing I have you!" the heroine replied with a grin. "Think you could find a way in?"

The young tech nodded and cracked his knuckles. "On it, give me about five minutes, ten tops," he told her, his fingers already flying across his keyboard.

"KP, hey!" Ron called out. "Uh, I gotta hit the bathroom, mind waiting up?" he asked hopefully, staring nervously at his girlfriend who turned back with a raised brow.

"Um, sure, but you got ten minutes tops. After that we'll be leaving asap so better make it quick," she replied, affirming the last part.

"Right, got it, you know me, it'll be quick!" he replied with an awkward laugh, attempting to sound like his casual self. "No problem, doing it pronto!"

The redhead just looked at him funny. "Okay? Well, tick tock," she finally said, tapping her watch.

Ron backed away while still maintaining eye contact and hit the side of the doorway by accident. Then he moved to the side to enter properly before booking it toward the "bathroom".

"That was weird," Kim mused, loud enough to catch Wade's attention. "Think my weirdar's going off."

"What was weird?"

"Ron, he was acting funny, but I guess I kind of forced him agree with me on this mission—but I know I'm right."

"Well, you do tend to be a control freak," the tech genius replied with a small laugh.

The heroine shot him a look that only made the boy laugh more.

Ron threw his eyes everywhere until he found Junior below. "Alright little dude, time to do your thing! You don't happen to know how to teleport, do you?"

The mini chimera thought for a brief moment until a certain technique popped into mind. He brought two fingers, his index and his middle, to his forehead, then he searched for Sensei's energy so he could lock on it. After he was finished he looked up at Ron and held a hand up toward him.

"Alright, let's do this!" The freckled teen grabbed his hand and in an instant they were gone. Although Kim hadn't seen them, they left two witnesses behind.

"No," Jim started.

"Way," Tim finished.

Ron and Junior suddenly appeared before Sensei inside one of the secret ninja school's buildings—what was left of it anyway. It seemed their confrontation with L left a lot of damages to the school, comparable to the damage Ron had initially done in the past by accident when he attended Yamaouchi for a brief time.

"I was expecting you two," Sensei spoke, startling the two and making them jump.

"Really?" the teen asked incredulously, before doing a double take and sighing. "Actually, never mind, I should've expected this by now."

"Tell me, my student, what is troubling you?" the old man asked. "Something tells me you aren't here just to visit."

A worried look enveloped his freckled face. "You're right, it's—it's about Kim. Look, I don't have a lot of time, but I need your help—your advice. This mission Kim's about to go on.."

"Are you worried what might happen?" Sensei inquired.

Forlornly, Ron nodded. "Yeah, ever since school started, Kim's changed," he continued. "I mean, not that I'm judging, of course after what she went through it's understandable, but I think it's a bad kind of change. I'm worried this mission might really make that change permanent, you know? I don't—I don't know what to do."

"And this mission of hers?"

The blonde gulped. "Sneak in Global Justice and steal L away to hand her over to this scientist named Sorgel. And to be clear, there's nothing good about that lady."

"And you don't want her to go through with this," Sensei stated.

Ron shook his head. "No, even though L's a crazy killer or whatever, she used to be someone good, right?" He looked up at Sensei as he asked that.

The headmaster sighed. "Yes, and if we're being honest here, she was much like you."

Ron's eyes widened. "Seriously?!"

"Yes, she had so much hidden potential. Although she was not a holder of the Mystical Monkey Power, back then she had a hidden power of her own that could rival that of yours now. Also, she managed to destroy a few buildings during her stay here."

The freckled teen took a brisk step forward. "He-hey, I said it was an accident!"

The old man laughed softly. "Yes, she said that too. If I were to give you an example of the person she used to be, it would be you, Stoppable-san."

That really gave him a perspective on the situation now. Sensei himself said that L used to be just like him. Before deciding to kill people as a living, she had a best friend who she had done everything with, her partner-in-crime, her everything! If Betty and L could end up like that, it meant there could be potential for him and Kim as well.

"So I have to stop Kim," he finally said, watching as the old man nodded in front of him. "That won't be easy. Especially since L kind of.. you know—" He cast his eyes below and laid them upon Junior who only frowned at the topic of this discussion. He really did not like L, if anything he despised her, enough to act like his dastardly father if he ever faced her again.

"I'm not asking you to forgive her for what she's done, Stoppable-san, but to give her another chance at life," he answered. "She is but many who became evil, not born with it. I hope you understand."

Ron sighed. "Yeah, I understand. Thanks for the advice Sensei, but we gotta go now. Kim's probably going to start looking for me."

The old man nodded. "Until we meet again."

Ron waved and Junior waved goodbye while he searched for an energy to pinpoint back to the Possible house. Using his free hand, he placed two fingers on his head and he and Ron vanished from Sensei's sight.

Kim finished up with Wade on how to enter L's containment area stealthily, meanwhile Ron and Junior appeared out of thin air in the next room just as she was about to enter.

"Hey guys, Wade found a way to get us in, so time to jet!" she said, spooking the two as they quickly turned around. She eyed them confusedly. "What?"

"No-nothing! Just scared us, is all," Ron replied with a nervous laugh, then he eyed his wrist as if there were a watch on it. "Wow, would you look at the time, getting pretty late! You know we finished up late after foiling Dementor, so how's about we push this off til later, huh?"

The redhead shook her head vehemently. "No way! If there's a way to keep Sorgel's dirty clutches away from Junior, I'm taking it! L will just be the scapegoat."

Her determination dampened his own to stop this mission from happening. "...Sure, but I think a little break in between missions would do us some good, you think?"

The displeasure was apparent on Kim's face when she heard him. It was expected, she cared a lot for Junior, he did too, but he had to stop her. The new containment device could still be created, just at a slower pace, his girlfriend tended to be impatient. He hadn't a clue on what to do at this point, he could only continue to try persuading her to think otherwise, or at least find sense in what he was saying, albeit not really. It wasn't like she thought he was making sense right now anyway.

"Look, I can go myself if you're too tired," she replied firmly, borderline stern. "I won't put this off later, so rest up and I'll be back in a jiff."

"No!" Ron shouted quickly, grabbing her arm as soon as she started leaving. She eyed him curiously, although warily. "Uh.. I don't think we should go."

Kim yanked her arm back and crossed her arms over her chest. She rose a brow at him and sent him a look. "And why not?"

"Well, I just think that L's better off with Dr. Director, maybe after awhile she'll not wanna be homicidal anymore, huh?"

The heroine's eyes narrowed, she felt a sudden, yet small throb from her head. She didn't expect it, or want to accept it, but she was growing weary of arguing—she was just trying to protect her Junior! Her family. Even if it were at the expense at the assassin.

"Not a debate anymore," she stated. "If you don't want to go, then don't. I, for one, want to keep Junior safe. Also, even if what she said is remotely true, I'm not risking Cell being free any longer, so that's that. So what'll it be?"

While she stood in front of him with that unwavering, determined look, Ron could only give her one answer.


	3. Chapter 3

Ron's answer was simple.

As he, Kim, and Junior shuffled through the air vents of Global Justice, he couldn't help but contemplate and regret his decision earlier.

"I'm with you, KP," he said then.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" he berated himself silently, although Junior managed to catch sight and a worried expression came about.

"I think we're getting close," Kim said silently, yet audibly enough for the two to hear. "There should be at least one air vent leading to where L's kept, we should be able to make our entrance there."

"So what's the plan? We grab her and shove her through the vents with us?" Ron asked, hints of skepticism sprinkled in his voice and Rufus on his shoulder with a skeptical expression. "Not gonna lie to you, Kim, but maybe we should bail."

"Ron, we're already too far in to bail, and.. uh, I'll find a way when we get there."

"Wait, so we don't have a plan yet?! We just broke in here?!"

The redhead shushed him quickly. "There is a plan! It's in the works, so no jumping to conclusions."

As much as the freckled teen didn't like it, he knew a solution to their predicament. Junior can teleport—but he wasn't sure if he told Kim about it. If anything, she probably forgot for the moment and might remember any second. He only sighed and continued to follow his girlfriend through the vents.

"Here we are," she said as she took out a lipstick.

"Is now really a good time for—" He stopped short when he recognized the device. How could he not? It was the very same that released him and Kim from the ropes they were tied up with during Junior Prom.

"Before you ask, yeah, it's the one," the heroine replied with a grin. She pointed it toward the the sides of the air vent and a laser fired, hitting all four sides of it and removing the vent opening and putting it aside, allowing them enough space to exit the ventilation system.

"Wade said he disabled the security system temporarily, so we'll have to make this quick," she said hastily, taking out the hook from her blow dryer and hooking it to the opening of the vent. Afterward, she slid down the thin line that came from her grappling hook.

Ron slid after, although not paying heed to what his girlfriend was saying. "Hear me out, KP. You ever come to think Sorgel might be playing us? I mean, let's be serious here, that jerk was against all five of those guys! And they were just like him!"

"Ron, focus, we have to be quick," Kim berated quickly. "Knowing Dr. Director, she'll most likely be having L under 24 hour surveillance. She'll be the first to notice something's off if we're not out of here in the next minute."

Junior flew down along with them as they slid down her wire. Once Ron planted his feet on the ground after Kim, the grappling hook's wire came zipping back into the device. The redhead gazed around her vicinity in a brisk manner to locate the assassin, although to her dismay, was unable to find her. The room was rather large after all, the ceiling was so high and the overall size of the room nearly left her surprised, but it would take a lot more than that to surprise someone like her.

Kim immediately turned on her Kimmunicator and patched through to her tech genius in an instant. "Uh, Wade, I don't see her or the containment device," she stated, her voice indicating immediate answers.

"She should be there, otherwise she must've been relocated while you guys started to infiltrate Global Justice," he answered, focusing intensely on his computer. "I'll try to find out what happened."

"Please and thanks," the redhead replied in a disappointed voice.

"Alright, now that we've gotten that out of the way, maybe we should leave," Ron suggested, turning to the mini chimera for aid. "Right, buddy? Good ol' L—I mean, evil ol'.. wh-whatever, all we know is that she's not here! So, let's jet!"

Junior nodded along with him. Their target wasn't there, so that meant they had to leave. Right? That was logical, at least. Although the expression on Kim's face didn't leave him feeling so well.

"No! She has to be here somewhere, we just have to keep looking!" she protested, taking a few steps forward to get a better view of the area before hearing a loud blaring sound and seeing flashing lights.

Junior leaped toward her, grabbing Ron as he did and standing in front of them protectively. The lights and the sounds ceased as a door out of nowhere flashed open and out came dashing the one and only Dr. Betty Director.

Her face exuded panic and fury. While trying to keep her eye on the crime fighters, she cast it everywhere rapidly, trying to find her long lost sister simultaneously. After failing to do so, she sent the teens an accusing glare.

"Where is she?" Betty asked angrily.

Kim was surprised by her entrance but instead looked at her with a confused expression. "What do you mean? Didn't you relocate her?"

"So she's not here?!" Ron asked incredulously, although with relief at the same time.

"I wouldn't have picked this area if I planned on relocating her in the future," she stated with quite the irate expression still in place. "I believe I'm the one who's owed answers. What are you two doing here?"

Before the heroine could open her mouth, Betty continued again abruptly, interrupting the girl before she could even answer.

"Never mind that, now that you're here you're going to help me find L," she said in a demanding manner. "No objections, you're going to whether you like it or not."

"I don't know, sounds like a GJ kind of thing to me. You know, me and KP, we finished a mission pretty late today, better us kids get to bed, huh?" he asked nervously, grabbing Kim by her shoulders and trying to pull her away from the brunette.

Dr. Director nodded. "I see, or maybe I will apprehend you for infiltrating Global Justice Headquarters without an invitation. Doesn't that sound better?" she asked, raising a brow.

Ron gulped while Kim rolled her eyes and peeled her boyfriend's hands off her shoulders. "We'll help. Know anybody else who has it out for L?"

Betty crossed her arms and paced for a bit. "Far too many, no doubt. She was an assassin in most of her 'deceased years'. In any case, the only person who would possibly have an idea where she would be—" she stopped short with a widened eye. "No. No way, that can't be possible. Then again, he used one of those stupid fly on the wall cams to find out about the Ron Factor."

"Wait, Gemini? Your evil twin brother?" the redhead asked incredulously.

"Fraternal?" Ron asked curiously, causing his girlfriend to look his way with almost the astonished look. "Hey, I did my studying!"

"Right, looks like he finally upgraded from those fly on the wall cams because I haven't seen any, especially not in here," Dr. Director continued, still pacing around in a pensive manner.

Kim rose a brow. "Thought you and your guys apprehended him?"

"Yes and no," she quickly replied. "He got out shortly after we had him. I don't even know where his next secret base for WEE is at, it makes me wish he hadn't upgraded his spying technology."

"You think he switched bugs?" Ron asked, scanning the area curiously. "Might be a spider for all we know." Rufus popped his head out of Ron's pocket and searched the area as well.

"Regardless, we'll find a way," Betty continued, letting out a frustrated exhale. "God, to think Sheldon would kidnap our only other sibling, and just because I had her first!"

"Well, he's evil, and L's evil, maybe they'll get along fine?" the freckled teen asked hopefully, causing the brunette in front of him to send him a glare.

"As bad as you think my relationship with L is, Sheldon's with her is far worse. At least I treated her like a sibling, he never thought of her as family. He's only doing this out of spite!"

"I'll have Wade find out if there's any sort of signal bouncing off from this area," Kim finally said, bringing out her Kimmunicator again and seeing the tech genius on there with a wide grin. "Let me guess—"

"I got it," he responded. "While you guys were talking, I was trying to figure out why L wasn't here. So what you said about the fly on the wall cam gave me an idea, so I searched for any other cams in the area sending some kind of signal, and look what I found." Wade's screen shrunk to the bottom left corner and on the bigger portion of the Kimmunicator's screen revealed the specs of a spider on the ceiling cam.

As if on cue, what looked like a spider appeared before them, sliding down from its artificial line of silk. Junior flew up to catch up, interested in its design.

"To think he actually changed his thought process," Betty remarked, rolling her one eye after looking at the device.

"Found a location yet?" Kim asked.

"Yep, signal was still pretty strong so I got it quick," Wade replied, typing away at his computer and revealing coordinates to WEE's next secret base.

"Thanks, Wade! You're the best!"

"Just doing my thing," he said with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

Betty grabbed the device from Junior's hands. "In any case, now that we've got a location, no need for this." With one simple motion, she crushed it with her own strength, obviously furious with the current situation. The mini chimera sweat dropped at the sight, watching as the destroyed remains fell to the floor peacefully.

She couldn't quite figure out what happened, but all she could recall was being bagged and dumped in a moving vehicle. A flying one, no doubt, she was all too familiar with being kidnapped that she knew what to expect. As of now, she was somewhere dark. She liked to say she was able to see in the dark, as if she had night vision, but the place she was in was pitch black. It wasn't until a spotlight hit her face that she could see. Her eyes squinted, obviously trying to recover from the intense light that hit them.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Little lamb lost her way?" a voice questioned disdainfully.

Although it'd been long, she recognized the voice in a heartbeat. A voice she was all too familiar with back in her younger years. She never turned in the direction of where it originated, but she did end up replying.

"Sheldon," she stated.

Sheldon growled. "Gemini," he corrected with a clench of his jaw. "I bet you must be wondering why you're here."

"No, not really."

The man tried not to get angry, but decided to continue with what he had to say. "Well, if you must know, I'm here to finish what Betty failed to. For once, I actually thought she had done something right by killing you, yet she couldn't even do that. Of course, as the inferior sibling, failure was expected. While I, the superior one, will get revenge for our father!"

Gemini leaped into the light, revealing himself. With that, the entire area lit up, showing the new secret base for World Evil Empire. L observed around her vicinity, unimpressed.

"Impressed, little sister?" he asked, providing emphasis on the last term. She knew what he meant by that. She was never a part of that family, that she could see.

"Am I supposed to be?" she asked with a scoff. "Betty did it better."

The leader of WEE stomped forward, a weapon to her head. It was some kind of gun, but she wasn't entirely fazed by it. She was too familiar with being near death that not even this could scare her. In all honestly, Cell did far better in invoking fear.

"Do you regret it?"

L was a bit thrown off by that question. She rose a brow.

This time, the weapon touched her forehead, moving her head backward a bit as he applied pressure. "Do you regret what you've done?" he repeated, this time, with more fury.

At that point, she finally perceived what he was referring to. It didn't seem he had the strength to say it, as if to confirm it actually happened. She could see it in his eye, a glistening from rage, sadness, whatever it may be.

"Yes," she answered, causing him to falter for a second—until she continued. "I regret killing that bastard as fast as I did instead of making him suffer. How unfortunate, while you were so busy trying to prove your superiority to Betty you didn't even notice him dying next door."

"YOU—" Sheldon yelled, gripping his weapon so tightly and wanting so much as to pistol whip her as hard as he could. "You ruined our family, you are the bane of our existence! You separated us, you tricked Betty into pitying you and look where that got us."

L simply rolled her eyes, trying not to lose her composure by laughing. "What? So it's my fault Betty liked me more than you? Is that why you put on that stupid eye patch? To relate to her? You're so pathetic I never bothered to take you out all these years."

"Don't forget," Sheldon growled, taking a step near her, his eye looking down on her. He uttered her first name, causing her to flinch. "You are nothing. You will always be nothing, just some stupid runt our father took pity on. You will never be anything more than a freak." With that, he gestured to her eyes and walked off.

She didn't want to admit it, but for the first time since Cell, she felt fear. The second he spoke her name, he became their father. Sheldon grew to take after him, both appearance and personality-wise. It was an irrational fear she couldn't shake, even after abandoning her own name. There was no logical reason for her to feel anything related to fear now that he was dead—the very source of her existence.

It wasn't long now, she only waited for Betty to come breaking in WEE's new secret base. She would appear, confront Sheldon, get into some meaningless, immature argument over who was better, what they've done, and then it'd be all over. Maybe they'd land some hits on each other, but in the end their brother would lose. Betty happened to be more talented than him, something he inwardly knew but never grew to admit, even after all these years.

She could hear crashing in the distance. In her vicinity, she saw multiple agents of WEE running about to their stations, trying to figure out what was going on. One of them noticed something odd on their screen and noticed the spider-on-the-ceiling cam had been destroyed.

"Sir, the spider-on-the-ceiling cam has been destroyed."

"Looks like my little sister finally caught on," Gemini said, standing up. He already took notice of the destruction that sounded elsewhere and prepared for Betty's entrance. "First, to leave her a little present for when she arrives." He held up his hand, his weapon already aimed at L. With a smile, he pulled the trigger, although his hand had been hit quite hard with something unknown. The gun flew out of his hand and onto the floor.

"What's the meaning of this, Gemini?" Dr. Director demanded angrily, stepping in from the shadows, a grappling hook in her hand. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like, Betty?" he asked disdainfully. "Retribution! After what she's done to our father, you decide to harbor her in Global Justice?! Even after what she's done to our friends and family all those years ago? They're all gone because of her!"

His dog, Pepe, inside his carrier began barking raucously angrily. Just as Sheldon had, he held a great hatred for the peace-keeping organization. Hearing the name only excited him into fury.

"I don't expect you to understand, in fact, I never did," Betty answered with a glare. "You, out of all people, should know Dad was a wretched man obsessed with revenge, don't take after him! It's not worth it! He was my father too, you know!"

"Silence!" he shouted, using his gauntlet on his hand to aim at L. "This ends now!"

Before he could fire a missile, the gauntlet slipped right off his hand. Junior held it in his hands and crushed it effortlessly. Sheldon only stared, flabbergasted at what had just occurred.

L stared incredulously at the mini chimera floating in front of Gemini. He was supposed to be dead! She thought she imagined his appearance back at Yamanouchi after she'd been contained, but he was really here! She hadn't the time to fathom it, because what came next shook her to her very core.

Kim had appeared, knocking out a few of Gemini's henchmen and glancing toward the assassin. The blonde could only stare with pure rage. Although immobile, she was shaking out of unadulterated fury. It almost spooked the girl a bit, to feel a visage so hateful and bloodthirsty. She literally had looks that could kill!

"Why you little..!" Gemini attempted to throw a punch but the mini bio-android caught it with ease, unrelenting with an iron grip. The leader of WEE couldn't release himself. The grip was so powerful, it caused him to fall onto his knees.

Dr. Director marched toward him, taking out a few of his henchmen while she was at it. She was just too angry to let them get in her way. She approached her brother, who had grimaced and struggled from Junior's hold. He threw his twin a glare.

"This.. this isn't over," he strained, trying to free himself. "Someday, she will pay for what she's done."

Junior couldn't help but agree.. she'd hurt too many people. He stared with understanding, but Gemini's energy was far too hateful and evil for his words to have true meaning. Unlike Kim, whose energy was quite the opposite and had given him comfort, although recently it had taken a sudden shift to something undesirable.

Some of Global Justice's agents came rushing in and arresting everyone, Gemini included. Her twin was taken away while she prepared to return L to headquarters. When she approached her, the woman didn't bother to look at her, or even thank her for taking her out of Sheldon's clutches. In fact, she was staring quite intensely at Kim, an unbridled loathing building and building as she continued. The heroine only looked away, uncomfortable.

"So, that's that, guess it's time for us to go home!" Ron shouted, Rufus in his cargo pants nodding repeatedly in agreement.

"Not so fast, we'll have to figure out a way to get L away from Dr. Director," Kim replied in a low voice, pensive. She was deep into thought, trying to figure out a way to separate the two efficiently and quickly.

"KP, didn't you hear that conversation Gemini had with her?"

"You mean, the part where L openly admitted to killing their father?" the heroine returned, crossing her arms and sending him an unconvinced look.

"Not to speak out of turn, but he didn't sound like a good father to me."

Kim shook her head. After hearing what Dr. Director said about him, he had a point, but she didn't want to admit that. Soon she could feel a pressure in her chest, a feeling she knew all too well in the past: guilt. Why? L literally tried to kill her repeatedly, she even killed Junior, so all the more reason to hand her over to Sorgel and feel far from guilty, if anything, satisfied. It wasn't until that point she realized she was doing all this work for one sole reason.

It wasn't out of a feeling of protection, it was out of fear.

"Maybe I'm just too paranoid," she thought to herself, going over her recent, previous days where she was constantly worried and anxious over Cell's survival. The fact it took a huge part of her daily life now. It was starting to take a toll, because she actually drove herself to putting her well-being over someone else's. She had somehow convinced herself it was completely fine to subject another human being to abject torture. She didn't want to know what Sorgel had in mind for L.

"...Okay," she finally said.

"Okay?" Ron returned, confused.

"Okay, as in, you're right," she responded with a sigh. "I don't want to put my life over someone else's. I guess we could give her another chance."

"But what about that Cell stuff Sorgel was spouting?"

"I think.. we can deal with it, if it was even true," Kim replied reluctantly. "We've managed him before, even without Trunks and the others' help. I think we can deal with him ourselves somehow."

Ron's eyes lit up. "Really?"

The redhead smiled. "Yeah, really." Junior popped in between them with a grin. She gestured to all of them: herself, Ron, Rufus, and especially Junior. "We're Team Possible, nothing's impossible!"

Betty overheard the commotion but did nothing to heed it. She only looked sympathetically at her sister.

"Time to go home."

Sorgel was tweaking one of her newest devices when she received a call. She heard beeping and answered it right away without looking, she was focused on the current action she hadn't realized it was the redhead on the monitor.

"Sorgel?"

The scientist nearly hit her head on the contrivance and jumped. She whipped her head toward the direction of the voice and saw Kim, an expectant expression coming about.

"Did you complete the mission?" she immediately asked, hopeful.

Kim had a firm look in place. "No, I don't plan to. Sorry to disappoint, but it looks like human experimentation isn't okay in my book."

The bespectacled woman stood abruptly, marching toward her monitor. "What? Have you lost reason? This could be beneficial towards us; humanity! The little amount we got from Cell was still enough to be of any use, don't you think this would also help?"

The heroine frowned. "The ends don't justify the means. I just called to tell you, you know, common courtesy. So, bye! Also, don't visit my house. Ever. Might have to get a restraining order to keep you away from Junior, just to be safe." With that, Kim signed off before Sorgel could get anything else out.

She didn't attempt to call back, she only clenched her fists. Always getting close and never getting what she deserved. First Cell, and now this potential specimen. She tried to find solace in what her findings were, but it just wasn't enough—at least, not without another potential specimen.

No, it was far too early for that, but.. the redhead did give her an idea.

As Kim ended the call, she looked back to Dr. Director and her team.

"Never thought Sorgel would go as far to hire you to kidnap L," she remarked.

"Better believe it, she's certainly.. something," she replied with hesitance. "I'm just glad I didn't go through with it. No human deserves that kind of punishment, no matter what they did. That's just straight up torture."

"Oh, and you know what she does in her 'experimenting'?" Betty asked curiously.

The redhead thought back to when the bio-android trapped her in the clearing purely out of the resentment, embarrassment, and rage over what had happened to him. She didn't know exactly what he'd gone through, but she was on the rear end of it, so all she knew it wasn't pretty.

"Let's just say it affects more than just one person," Kim said.

"Well, two missions in one day really takes it out of a dude, and our little guy here," Ron noted, stretching his arms and wrapping one around his girlfriend, sending his eyes toward the mini chimera in front of him. "So how's it about we finally head home?"

"Alright, alright," she replied, rolling her eyes and leaning out from his arm. "I do have one question though."

"Question?" Betty asked.

"Yeah, I don't mean to pry, but you don't happen to know why Sorgel wanted L so much, right? I always got the feeling she was hiding something when she came to talk to me about the mission."

Dr. Director had a sudden remembrance of what Sorgel told her the other day. The things she has said about the containment device and how it worked.

But as far as I know, the containment device works solely on non-human, organic beings, partial or not.

She thought to herself for a moment, deciding whether or not to reveal this information to Kim. She felt it would be easier for them all if L remained "human" in their minds. Telling them this would only complicate things further, she didn't want them questioning her heritage and origins. The less human she seemed, the more easier it could be for them to hate her and want to be rid of her—even more so than previously.

"Just as clueless as you are," she lied quickly, almost inaudible. "Just your typical scientist I suppose. Experimenting, even at the expense of our fellow humans."

"Right, she wouldn't even refer to L as a human being last I checked," Kim replied, remembering the little snippets Sorgel had spoken where she refused to use her pronouns.

"Just what you'd expect," Betty responded with a sigh. "If that's all you have to ask of me, I can arrange a ride for you all home."

"And L?" Ron asked curiously.

"Back to Global Justice of course, there's no other place I'd rather she'd be," she answered the teen. "I'll be sure to heighten the security to the very extent of my abilities. I'll dismiss what happened today, should it happen again, I won't hold back."

"No worries, I'm sure you'll get through to her," Kim said with a small grin. "I don't know what happened back then but if anyone's going to help her, it's you."

Dr. Director nodded. "Right, thanks Kim. I'll try my best to restore our relationship."

A familiar beep emitted from Kim's pocket and she immediately took out her Kimmunicator. "Hold off on that ride a bit, I'll be back in a sec."

The redhead walked off as she answered her device, Junior instinctively following her, meanwhile Ron's eyes darted to Betty, a curiosity he held back when his girlfriend was around just to let it out now.

"So, do you know anything about what happened at Yamanouchi?" Ron asked.

Dr. Director looked back at him. "The school in the mountains?"

"Yeah! You knew Sensei, didn't you?" he asked, raising a brow.

The brunette averted her one eye, crossing her arms. "Not close, per say, but I am familiar."

"So you know what happened all those years ago?"

Betty started to become a bit reticent on the matter. "Not fully.. but enough. That day is a day I want to forget, I won't share any details."

"Aw, come on! Not even a little bit?" the freckled teen asked, pinching his two fingers to emphasize his point.

"You already perceive her in a bad light, I would like to refrain myself from tarnishing it any further," she continued. "Her past shouldn't be forgotten, but some of it should never be spread around."

Ron frowned, disappointed. He had to admit, he had an enormous urge to figure out what happened years ago. Yori and Sensei knew about it, yet hadn't attempted to tell him the history, if anything, tried to keep hidden. As far as he knew, L used to be a good person—a good person like him—yet somewhere along the way, one day, she took a large number of lives from both Global Justice and Yamanouchi. From what he suspected, it all happened in the same day.

"Okay, fair enough," he replied in disappointment. He had the idea to ask Sensei, but he had a feeling the headmaster wouldn't take kindly to the question, or try to pretend he didn't know what he was talking about.

"Go, Wade," Kim said, as soon as she distanced herself enough from the others, although she hadn't seen the mini bio-android happily following her around.

"I finally got something when you asked me to look into Cell," Wade answered. "Ever heard of the Red Ribbon Army?"

"Uh no, do they have something to do with Cell?"

"Kind of, but they were a paramilitary criminal organization that disbanded decades ago, so they've probably been forgotten by now, but they were feared from all over. It even looks like they went toe-to-toe with Global Justice before they disbanded, like they were arch rivals or something."

"Okay, makes me wonder how old GJ really is," Kim mused, before returning to her tech friend. "Not to be rude, but this doesn't really connect to Cell."

"It took a long time and a lot of hard work—but mostly good connections, I found a correlation. The organization was staffed with the best minds of every conceivable industry for an unknown goal, I never found that part, but in one of those industries was a scientist named Dr. Gero."

"Scientist.." Kim murmured, an idea coming to mind as to where this conversation was headed. "I don't think I like where this is going."

"It looks like he was pretty knowledgeable of artificial intelligence and artificial life, but.. that's as far as I got," he said, his eyes moving to Kim's. "I don't mean to pry, but has Cell ever mentioned having a creator of some sort?"

It was like whiplash. There were two moments where the chimera had mentioned a "creator". The moment she and Ron were forced to stay in the clearing and their dumb little squabble over her eating deer.

"Yeah, you don't think this Dr. Gero guy created Cell, right?"

"As far as I know, it's a big possibility. I also found blueprints greatly resembling the specs I got when you first showed me Cell," he replied, then leaning back in his chair. "The signature on these blueprints is a bit unreadable, but it does look like his name's on it. That much is sure."

"Mind looking into this Red Ribbon for me, or more importantly, this Dr. Gero? These blueprints might have a clue on how to stop him—if he's alive, of course. Can never be too safe, you know."

"On it, and I forgot to tell you I'd be working with Sorgel with the containment device. Sorry to put it off, but it looks to me every time we talk about Cell, you get a little.."

"A little what?" she asked quickly, defensive.

"A little like that," he finished, gesturing to her current attitude with worry. "I think you're getting a little obsessive over this."

"Great, so you and Ron think I'm getting too paranoid, right?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Never said that! Just maybe take it easy?" he asked, nervous.

The redhead sighed and pulled back. "You're right, you and Ron are," she admitted, although with a bit of difficulty. "Sorry if I've been acting totally random, I just really needed an upper hand to feel like.. myself, you know? I am so not used to everyone suddenly able to beat me in a fight."

Wade rose a brow and nearly smirked. "Like Ron?"

"Yeah—" Kim stopped herself short and her eyes widened. "No! I mean, maybe? No, I am totally not upset over Ron being better than me, that's-that's silly! I'm just adjusting, alright?"

"Riiight," the boy responded, unconvinced. "Anyway, that's all the info I've got for now. I'll keep you posted when I find more. See ya!"

Kim waved with a forced smile before sliding her device back in her cargo pants with a sigh. She turned around only to be spooked by the mini chimera's sudden appearance.

"Hey! Way to scare the daylights outta me," Kim said with her hands at her hips, the boy giving her a sheepish smile.

"What were you two talking about?" he asked curiously.

The way the words came out of his mouth were nothing like their previous conversations. If anything, more succinct and coherent, less hesitant. She figured he had seen and heard enough interactions between her and others to learn that. Not that it bothered her, just made it easier for the conversation to flow.

"Uh, nothing," she said passively, trying not to divulge any further. She didn't know how long he stood there anyway. "Just catching up with Wade."

He shot her an unconvinced look. It looked like he knew enough, so Kim realized she couldn't give anymore lies or excuses at this point. She knew how he disliked the mention of his father, more so that she had kept thinking of him.

"Okay look, I'm just trying to keep us safe for the likely chance he comes back," she replied quickly. "I know you told me you couldn't sense him earlier, but that's not going to cut it anymore. I need some kind of upper hand, that's all. Wade's looking into it to see if he has some kind of weakness or something, so not the drama, alright?"

Junior thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, although reluctant. All this stress over the small chance of his father's survival didn't seem worth it though, hence his reluctance.

"Now that's been settled, let's go home. I think we've been keeping Dr. Director and Ron long enough," the redhead said aloud, sending the mini bio-android a smile. Before it faded quickly and her adding, "Don't tell Ron about this, let's keep it between us. Our secret—you know what a secret is, right?"

The boy nearly sweat dropped, remembering the secret he'd kept with Ron knowing full well what the word meant. He nodded with a forced smile while she patted his head and strolled toward Ron and Betty, him trailing behind.


	4. Chapter 4

Ron was a complete mess.

This was his nth attempt at getting his powers back, but no such luck. He even forced himself to wake up early for the chance to transform. As for staying up late, he was already proficient in that. He kept it up until he passed out, only to wake up an hour later having little time to train before school. After so many failures, his situation worsened this morning when he overheard a conversation between Kim and Monique, and unfortunately with the phrase "trading up". A phrase he only heard from Bonnie and desperately hoped his girlfriend hadn't considered. His worst fears came true when he heard her firmly say she agreed with Bonnie. Bonnie!

He couldn't stand to listen anymore, he bolted in the opposite direction they were in to avoid being seen.

"Trading up" referred to leaving him for "someone better" or a jock like Bonnie had rudely insinuated. That wouldn't happen, it was just—whatever. Kim wouldn't do that, she's not Bonnie, or like any of the other cheerleaders. Some girls do like to date jocks though, but the redhead wasn't your everyday girl, she was Kim! It's not like she would dump him to trade up—

"Would she?" he thought worriedly then.

Oh but now he had reason to be. The next few days, he feared a call or a text would come from his girlfriend to reveal the devastating news. Deathly worried of losing her. Already a week in and Junior was going to see the two people he cared most in emotional turmoil! After what happened during the summer, he thought they'd grown so much closer, or was that his imagination? Looking through what happened with rose-colored glasses? How naive! Of course something that traumatic caused her to push him away, because in the end, he left her to fend for herself. It was his fault she got hurt.

It was his fault Cell was free.

"No, no, no!" Ron shook his head. "That can't be right, Kim's not just my girlfriend, she's my best friend! I mean, we're tight!" he attempted to exclaim proudly, although his tone showed indication of a falter. "Right?" he asked Rufus, his voice lacking confidence. The naked mole rat only sighed in reply.

"Well you heard her, Rufus, now that we're seniors I'm not good enough for Kim," he continued, digging the hole his self-esteem seem to make from falling so low. She was probably thinking of it anyway since he lost his Mystical Monkey Powers, it was only Bonnie's words that spurred her into action. If only there was a way to keep her from leaving him-

He looked at the football tryouts sign in front of him, the date was today.. an idea instantly popped in his mind.

"Time for Ron Stoppable to step up and become—Ron Steppubable!"

Tryouts were more or less.. a failure, but he was getting somewhere! Besides crashing into someone's car and shoving a football in Mr. Barkin's mouth, he was surprised to see the coach/teacher/whatever-he-was-currently allowed him to continue trying out. As of now, he was currently crab walking around the lap, happening upon his girlfriend in her varsity cheerleader uniform and Monique dressed casually.

Trying to look good, he lifted his chin up at the two girls. "Sup ladies!"

Kim sat on the bench, looking at her boyfriend and trying to figure out what he was doing. "And you're doing.. what?"

"I'm just relishing the exquisite torment that is the 'crab walk'," he replied coolly.

"Fun," Monique added sarcastically.

"Ah, it's a jock thing," he replied, getting up to his feet and taking off his helmet. "You wouldn't understand."

"Jock thing?" Kim asked, who couldn't help but let out a short laugh. "You?"

The freckled teen wasn't going to lie, that laugh was a metaphorical stab in his heart, but he manage to tough it out! He wasn't going to look weak in front of Kim—never again.

"Are you kidding?" He sat on the bench next to her. "Ron Stoppable has always been about the sportage!"

The heroine gazed with an unconvinced expression. "Okay, even if that was true.. football?"

"Who doesn't like to toss around the ol' pig puck!"

"You mean pig skin?"

Ron leaned back. "Whoa KP! One sport at a time!"

Having a remembrance of the unpleasant encounter with Bonnie, Kim realized what was going on. "Ron—"

Her Kimmunicator beeped in her pocket, interrupting her in mid-sentence. "Alright, we'll get back to this later, I have to take this," she said, getting up from the bench and strolling quite the fast pace.

As soon as Kim was out of earshot, Monique turned to Ron. "Ever feel like Kim's hiding something?" she suddenly asked.

The freckled teen was somewhat taken aback. "Hey, not really cool talking behind Kim's back, but even if she were, nothing bad about keeping a few secrets! Maybe she'll spill when she's comfortable, I'm down with that."

The ebony girl only looked down, a worried look on her face. "Maybe it's just me, but she seems a bit off ever since we came back from summer vacation. I don't know what happened to you guys during those months, but something's definitely going through that head of hers. Since we started hanging out again, I've been getting a weird vibe."

Ron gulped. He noticed Kim had begin to take her calls elsewhere, he didn't know if they were mission-oriented or not. He tried not to overthink it, if she wasn't ready to tell him now, then he would wait until she would be. Still.. it bugged him to think she was keeping something from him, especially if it were important. Maybe he'd ask Junior, he would know a thing or two about it.

"Hey Wade, new sitch?"

"Got a bit of dirt on our scientist Dr. Gero, you might wanna hear this," Wade replied quickly.

"Okay shoot," the redhead shot out, wanting to hear the information as soon as possible, but eager as well.

"It looks to me, there are more blueprints, not just for Cell, but for his other creations. I haven't found all of them, but they're all numbered. From what I could gather, Cell was his 21st creation."

"21st?!" Kim exclaimed incredulously, catching the eyes of a few students passing by, staring at her weirdly. The redhead laughed sheepishly and waved them off, quickly darting away and trying to find a private area close to Ron and Monique. Brushing off the embarrassment, she hid under the bleachers and turned back to wade. "You mean to tell me, there could be 20 other Cells!?"

"What? No, well, maybe. Not 20, that's for sure," he answered. "They were dubbed androids. These were artificial beings who could devastate the entire populace if they had the chance, it's insane! Androids 1 through 7 and 9 through 15 were destroyed though. Not sure why, might've been failed ones."

"Or.." Kim spoke, a realization dawning on her. "He couldn't control them. I remember Cell saying his creator was ignorant, so I don't think he respects him all that much."

"From what you told me about him, he might've killed him, Dr. Gero I mean."

"Not a surprise," Kim said, a scowl coming about. "So that's what he is then. An android?"

"Well, technically speaking, a biological one. The others I mentioned were purely mechanical."

"Wow," she breathed out, amazed by the amount of information she received. "What about androids 16 through 20?"

"Um, I didn't really get enough on them, but I did combine what I found to know that they exist. They could be mechanical or biological for all we know. There was a bit of correlation between Cell and androids 17 and 18, but I couldn't really figure out what, but I'll keep you posted if I find anything."

"Thanks Wade! You're seriously the best!"

"Anytime! I'll be back asap with new info, signing off!" With that, the tech genius left, leaving the screen of her Kimmunicator blank.

Kim stared at the blank screen, clutching it a bit tightly as she thought about the info. "Biological android," she thought, a serious expression enveloping her face. Besides him, there could be more like him out there, and she didn't like the thought of that. Surely Goku and the others have known about this and had done something about it some time ago. Maybe.. but she shouldn't rely just on possibilities, she had to make sure.

The blueprints she received from Wade wasn't very much help. She wasn't exactly a scientist who could read it easily, or someone familiar with this extensive biology. She was almost tempted to contact Sorgel about it since she seemed knowledgeable about him, but she still couldn't trust her, especially after what happened. Maybe she'd ask her mother about it, but she really didn't want to involve anymore people in this. Not even Ron..

"Speaking of," she mused. "Better head back."

The heroine could see Ron and Monique talking from within the bleachers. She wished it could stay this way just a little longer, but as long as someone like Cell was still lingering upon the Earth, every aspect of her life were being threatened.

With that in mind, she just strolled out of the bleachers and approached her friends. When Ron and Monique noticed, the subject suddenly changed.

"So Monique! This jock stuff is pretty impressive, huh?" Ron asked in an unconvincing tone.

"Sure, Ron, whatever helps you sleep at night," Monique answered while crossing her arms, a resounding, disappointed grunt from Ron.

Kim observed her two closest friends and let out a heavy sigh. "Back to cheer practice, I guess! Good luck with tryouts, Ron. Although I'm not sure why the sudden interest."

"Whaaat? I'm just fleshing out the resume for college!"

The redhead crossed her arms and seemed to go along with it. It seemed.. convincing enough. "Well, I guess football reads better than flooding the school cafeteria."

Monique's eyes widened. "Huh?! Oh, right! The chess club incident!"

Ron's eyes suddenly narrowed. "First rule of chess club is, you do not speak about chess club."

A beep once again emitted from Kim's pocket. Monique and Ron exchanged looks and watched Kim intently to see her next course of action. Her sudden change in behavior looked fishy to them, it was their main subject of conversation before the redhead returned after all.

"So not a good time," Kim mused, as she thought about heading back for cheer practice just earlier. Just as she got up to leave, Ron placed a hand on her shoulder. She quickly turned back curiously to see what he wanted.

"Hey, it's just our good old pal, Wade, right? Just take the call here!" Ron suggested with his usual grin, hoping his girlfriend would stay. His grin hid a lot more than he was showing.

"Yeah, what's the rush? No secrets between friends, right?" Monique added along.

"Um.. I guess so," Kim finally said, a bit worried that Wade was calling back for something regarding Cell rather than mission stuff. She hoped it was the latter. She answered it and to her relief, it was just another hit on her site.

"Just got a hit on the site," Wade said. "Cat up a tree, and it seems like a battle suit mission."

The heroine sighed in relief, but soon tilted her head in confusion. "Uh, cat up a tree really doesn't seem like a battle suit mission."

The young genius had a reply ready. "..You haven't seen the cat."

"Okay, then I'm on my way! Never a bad time to use the battle suit, maybe I should bring Junior along," Kim responded, a bit pensive on that last part. Maybe a little exposure to new animals could be an educational experience for the mini chimera. She didn't want to keep him all cooped up in the house 24/7.

"I'm coming too!" Ron exclaimed.

"What about tryouts?" Monique asked, a brow raised.

The freckled teen looked back to see Mr. Barkin staring quite intensely. "..Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine! We'll be in and out, just like that! I mean, it's just a cat up a tree, right?"

A puma clutched the thick branch of a tree quite tightly and roared at the crime fighters below.

"Oh boy," Ron said, wondering if what he said jinxed the situation.

"Well, that's disappointing," Kim said, remembering all the things she said that she thought were educational about cats to Junior, who happened to stare in wonder of this majestic beast. She didn't expect a big cat.

On their way to the "cat", Kim got her battle suit and Junior, and all of them headed towards their destination-which wasn't far, it was in town. An old woman approached the crime fighters and gazed upon her pet worriedly.

"Oh, Sassy's so frightened!"

"By any chance, is Sassy, say, a cougar?" the redhead asked.

"Oh heavens no," the old woman replied firmly. "She's a puma!"

The freckled teen crossed his arms, a look of realization. "Ohh, that's completely different."

"No, it's not!" Kim exclaimed firmly, then she released an exasperated sigh. "Well, nothing says battle suit mission than a puma on the edge!" Before she could jump onto the tree, Ron's eyes widened and he suddenly grabbed her before she could go.

"Wait!" he shouted. "Let me get Sassy."

Kim's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "What?! Uh, hello, battle suit. Puma on the edge. You should hang back."

"No! Allow me to step up," he said, subtly referring to his current situation. "Who knows? Maybe the thought of being in mortal danger will help me get my Mystical Monkey Powers back!"

"Ron, do you even hear what you're saying? That's ludicrous!" she said, crossing her arms. For some odd reason, she felt somewhat irritated at the mention of his powers. A lot actually, it almost made her angry. He hadn't said a thing about it since they foiled Dementor—until now. She thought she would get over this by now, but the bitterness of Ron's newfound abilities only festered and grew.

"No it's not, remember when I transformed and saved you from Cell back at Yamanouchi because I saw you in danger, it makes sense!"

With the bio-android in mind, Kim nearly scowled, her irritation mounting. "Right, because that's totally what happened. Ron, he ended up beating you and I had to talk him out of killing the both of us. Look, I really don't want to talk about this right now, just let me get Sassy and we'll discuss this a different time."

Anxiety bubbled within Junior, he cast his rosy orbs to Ron worriedly to see if he was okay. He hadn't anticipated the redhead to speak so harshly of the situation. He could feel a negative dive in her energy—she clearly wasn't at her best mentally..

The freckled teen saw her scowl and gulped. Thinking it was towards him, he shrunk back, averting his gaze simultaneously. "..Alright, sorry for mentioning it."

"No big, just sit tight and I'll be right back!" Kim leaped onto the branch and tried to coax the puma to come down.

While she was busy, Junior approached Ron and tugged on his pants. "Are you okay?"

Ron nearly jumped but saw that it was just the mini bio-android. "Yeah, for sure! I shouldn't mention that jerk, I should've known how she feels about hearing his name. It was my bad." Although he tried to put on a brave face, he clearly looked upset.

The child hugged his legs and hoped he felt some assurance. Disappointed in himself, the freckled teen returned the gesture by patting the mini chimera's head. He didn't expect Junior to be so forward like this. He was supposed to be acting like a dad but ended up getting consoled by the very kid he was supposed to help look after. No wonder Kim wanted to trade up..

It was weird though, they mentioned Cell during their mission to return L to GJ. She seemed fine then, well for the situation, she seemed as fine as someone would be, but for her to be like this out of nowhere.. maybe something was going through her head like Monique said. He hoped she would open up to him soon, he didn't want his doubts and worries to overwhelm him and cause him to say or do something that would upset her.

Ron thought starting their senior year together would make everything better, but it only made everything worse. He wasn't doing enough for Kim, he had to step up. He gazed up to see Sassy swiping at Kim and managing to tear off a part of the battle suit.

"Hey!" Kim shouted angrily. "I said nice!" The part of the battle suit that had been torn off repaired itself immediately.

The puma eventually lunged at her, spurring Kim to leap back onto another branch. Once the creature landed on the branch the heroine originally stood on, it broke and caused her to fall to the ground and land on her feet. She then turned attention to Ron and approached him, growling loudly.

"Sassy, whoa!" Ron called out, backing away as Junior placed himself in front of teen with intent to protect.

"Oh, Sassy doesn't like men so much," her owner warned.

"No, no!" the freckled teen continued out of fear, backing away even further. "I'm like, barely a man. See, there was this mix up at my bar mitzvah and-"

Soon, Sassy roared and lunged at the freckled teen. The mini chimera prepared to defend but was surprised to see Kim show up suddenly in front of him. She activated her her force field which blasted the puma away. Repeatedly so since she attacked again and again.

"Force field, fierce!" Ron exclaimed in awe of the battle suit's powers. It did quite a bit for Kim when she needed it.. a lot actually, maybe it could be used for a certain something else-

"Stop teasing my Sassy!" Sassy's owner berated, hooking the puma's collar to her leash, the animal purring contently at her touch. "Let's go home, dear."

As the old woman strolled away with her pet, Kim's force field dissipated. The redhead turned to the mini bio-android with a smirk. "Couldn't let you have all the glory, buddy. But just so we're clear, that's a puma, not a cat. They're technically big cats, actually. Sorry for misleading you."

"No big," he replied.

The redhead's eyes lit up at his words. "Wow, you're really catching on, aren't you?"

"So.." Ron suddenly began, his girlfriend's head immediately turning toward him. "Gotta jet! Haha, you know Barkin, he's gonna chew me out if I don't finish tryouts. You know, the sportage! Uh, pig puck! Skin?"

Kim gazed sympathetically and sent her boyfriend a small small. "Hey, sorry for harshing on you earlier. Good luck with tryouts, hope what you're doing makes you happy at least."

Looking at Kim, his girlfriend, standing in the sun in her battle suit. No doubt, she was beautiful. Kind, compassionate, but most of all, forgiving. God, he felt like he didn't deserve her.. but he certainly wasn't going to give up on stepping up, he really did not want to lose her, especially to a jock. If only he could enhance his abilities somehow, then he could prove to be the guy she deserved-

An epiphany came to him, alas it was not a good one. The freckled teen managed to smile back, a nervous chuckle escaping his mouth as he stared at her battle suit.


End file.
